Olga Kurylenko

Born Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko in Berdyansk, Ukraine on Nov. 14, 1979, she was the daughter of a Russian mother and an Ukranian father who split when Kurylenko was just three years old. She was raised by her mother, Marina Alyabysheva, who worked punishing hours as an art teacher to support her daughter and mother. This meager income was barely enough to keep Kurylenko fed and clothed, and the family suffered through the dire poverty that afflicted the region during the 1980s. However, her mother was dedicated to giving her daughter a quality education, scraping enough together to send her to music school and five years of ballet classes as well as art and language studies.